


Everyone Can Be a Hero

by Mycroffed



Category: Jessica Jones (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Hero!Kevin, I'm Bad At Titles, Kid!Jessica, Kid!Trish, Note once again that this is an AU story, Tags will be added as this story goes on, Teen!Kevin, Work In Progress, smutfree
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-05-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 19:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5713933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mycroffed/pseuds/Mycroffed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Kevin is living on the street when one day, he meets Jessica Jones. Little does he know his life will change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Twelve/Seventeen

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again~
> 
> I cannot say how much I love Kilgrave and the idea that if he had met Jessica sooner that she might've saved him without even realising it.
> 
> I hope I do the characters justice.
> 
> Note: I don't own anything, it's all Marvel and Netflix.
> 
> But thanks for reading, kudo'ing and commenting!

A growling sound filled the air.

"Shut up, stomach." Kevin mumbled softly as he wrapped his jacket - which was filled with holes - a bit tighter around him. How long had it been since he had last something to eat? It must've been a few days, since he got those five dollars from that nice woman and bought two subway sandwiches. Which he had eaten straight away.

He shouldn't have done that. He really _was_ a little genius.

The cold January air was blowing through the alleyway where Kevin Thompson was curled up in an attempt to keep some of his warmth to him. It wasn't working.

 _Cling_.

Kevin glanced up to see what had caused the noise. It was a coin that had fallen into his small cup. He scrawled back onto his feet and tried a charming smile. "H-hey, thanks..." He said as he tried desperately not to shiver.

The young, black haired girl returned the smile. "You're welcome. Is there anything else I can do?"

A blonde girl of about the same age was standing right next to her. Blondie grabbed the other girl's arm and started to tug her along. "Come on, we gotta go, before mom finds us..."

"N-no, this is already plenty, thank you." He smiled a bit more convincingly. "What's... What's your name?" He asked softly, genuinely curious as to who the girl was who made it possible for him to eat again.

"Jessica Jones. Nice to meet you. And you are...?"

"Kevin. Kevin Thompson."

 

*

 

For the second time that day, Kevin found Jessica standing in front of him once again. He smiled warmly at her. Over the course of the last few weeks, Jessica and Trish - he had learned that she preferred that over Patsy, the name her mother and most of the world knew her by - had visited him every day, leaving just enough money for him to buy two sandwiches and a hot drink.

When it had gotten colder - the winter was freakishly warm this year - they had brought him a new jacket as well, one that wasn't riddled with holes. But the weathermen had predicted that tonight would be the first evening that it would actually freeze, so they had brought an extra blanket for him earlier that day.

But now they were back, and Kevin couldn't help but look up at them a bit confused.

"What are you doing here?" He asked softly. "I mean, not that I mind you being here, don't get me wrong, I really like you here, but... You've just never been here twice in a day before."

"Mum's out of town for a couple a days." Trish said, beaming at Kevin. "So we thought that we could get you inside so that you could actually sleep on a couch or in a bed tonight."

Kevin's expression was one of shock and unbridled joy. "R-Really?" His eyes widened as he looked up at the two girls. "Are you... Are you really doing this for me?"

"Of course!" Jessica was grinning widely. "It's a great way to annoy _mum_."

"I-I don't want to get you in any trouble..." Kevin said immediately. He was about to protest that he was perfectly fine where he was, comfortable on the carton bed that he had made for himself over the course of the last few weeks. He already was incredibly grateful that these two twelve year olds were helping him, a lanky seventeen year old who has been living on the street for about seven years now.

"Kevin." Jessica raised an eyebrow at him. "If you know me at all, then you know I love getting in trouble." She then sent him a cute - yet smug - grin. And yes, that was what the boy had learned throughout the last few weeks they had spent together.

"So... Can I take an actual shower at your place?" He completely dropped the subject of trouble, already having accepted that. "I think it's been ages since I took an actual shower."

"Yeah, I can smell that." Jessica joked, holding her nose while waving her hand in front of it, grinning widely.

"Oi!" Kevin stuck his tongue out at her. "I'd like to smell you after living rough for weeks!" But he was smiling as well, because he really liked the young girl. Not in _that_ way of course, after all, he was seventeen and she was only twelve, but he still saw her as a friend - one of his only friends.

"Come on, Kevin. Let's go home."

 

*

 

Kevin's stay at Jessica's house lasted longer than planned. He had thought that as soon as Trish' mom would return from her trip out of town, that he would have to leave again, but Jessica enjoyed having him around too much - and maybe she liked causing trouble a bit too much as well. So the weeks went on and he stayed at their house. At first, he stayed mainly in Jess' room, but as the weeks progressed, Jess had one day stormed in, grabbed his arm and dragged him all the way downstairs.

"Meet Kevin. He's been living here for three weeks now." She had said to the woman who had to be their mother.

While Kevin had awkwardly looked down and scratched the back of his head, the others had started to argue about what she had done. Eventually, Jess and Dorothy - he felt sorry for her, her parents must've been horrible people to name her that - came to an agreement. Kevin could stay, get his own room, but he had to be enlisted via the foster system so Dorothy could make it public and make sure that she got something out of it.

Kevin hadn't said a single thing in protest.

The fact that Dorothy had saved a boy from living on the street was dragged out in the media - he had gotten a haircut and a fancy suit for the photo shoot that accompanied the announcement - but after a couple of weeks, the media storm had calmed down again. And he was actually glad about it. He had to admit that he felt uncomfortable - definitely when the people had fitted him for his suit, he didn't like it when people he didn't know touched him. It was something that had remained from his time being tested on by his parents.

Luckily for him, his powers hadn't been discovered yet - he hadn't slipped up yet, which was a good thing. He was terrified of accidentally ordering someone around, which would cause them to drop him out on the street once again.

Another fear of his were his parents. He knew that they would never let him live there, that they would tell him just how screwed up he was and then it would be all gone. Jessica would know the truth about him, about what a horrible and screwed up person he was. His parents would lock him up again, would resume the testing. There was a reason why he had run away from the foster parents he had once lived with after coming out of the hospital. He had seen his parents looking in through one of the windows and he had panicked.

Since then, he didn't stay anywhere longer than three weeks.

Maybe this could be the exception.

 

*

 

"Hey, Kevin?"

The seventeen year old boy looked up at Jess and smiled at her. "Yes...? Anything I can do for you?"

"I... I heard you talk in your sleep." Jess deliberately didn't look at the other as she admitted that. She had trouble sleeping, she had already told Kevin about it a few days ago when he had bumped into her in the kitchen at three am. "Are you really going to leave us?"

His eyes widened as he realised what she was asking. And how his heart was screaming at him not to hurt this young girl. "No, of course not, Jessica." He said, his voice as gentle as he possible could. "I'm going to stay here forever." He didn't believe that, how could he? He was a coward.

"O-Okay..." She mumbled - Kevin realised that she was crying, so he pulled her gently into his arms. "I don't want you to leave us..."

"Then I won't, Jessie." He said softly as he kneeled down in front of her and wiped her tears away. "I promise that I'll always come back to you, no matter what happens, okay?"

"Okay."

Kevin forgot about the conversation almost immediately, just thought of it as one of the signs that Jess was really attached to him, but the young girl never forgot. She would always remember his promise and she was definitely going to come back to it once he decided to leave.

Because she wasn't going to let him go. Not ever.


	2. Thirteen/Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how long this is going to be. I will write what I feel like until I reach the present day. There is a ten year age gap between Tennant and Ritter, but I made Kevin only 5 years older than Jess, so this chapter is placed in 1994. If each year gets a chapter, I still have a long way to go.
> 
> But it's going to be fun!
> 
> And thank you, dear reader, for reading, kudo'ing and commenting!

He had never meant for it to happen. But then again, that was the story of his life, wasn't it? 

Kevin had stayed with the Walker's for a full year now. His birthday had come and passed, but he hadn't said a single word, he didn't want it to be remembered. Why celebrate the day that he was born, if all that had happened since then were horrible things? He didn't want it, so he never mentioned it to Jessica or Trish.

Even when Jessica realised that it had been an exact year since they had picked him up from the street and had come to confront him about his birthday, he had still refused to tell her the exact date, even though he remembered it very well. April 18th. A day he cursed every time he woke up from a nightmare.

Jessica was aware of his nightmares - he had woken more than once with her standing in the doorway with a worried look on her face - and she had often asked what they were about. But he had refused every single time. Which irritated her to no end.

He went to sleep early that particular evening - surprisingly early, since he was exhausted, the previous night had been horrible - and Jessica had noticed it. She snuck into the room where he was sleeping, right when a nightmare started. He was completely unaware of her presence in the room, not that he could do anything about it, because once he was asleep, it was difficult to wake him up again.

While he was reliving his childhood once again, she slowly moved closer, reaching out to the man, hoping that she would be able to calm him down again. She placed a hand on his shoulder and shook him.

"Kevin...?" She said softly, worry filling her voice. "Kevin, wake up! You're just... You're having a nightmare!"

"Don't touch me!" The young man jerked away as soon as the teenager touched him, not aware of who it was or what the hell was happening to him.

Jessica's eyes widened in fear as she pulled her hand back, feeling like she didn't have a choice. She just _had_ to move her hand away from his shoulder. "Kevin..." She whispered. "Kevin, what... Why can't... Why can't I touch you?" She honestly wanted to comfort him, since she knew how horrible it was to have nightmares - she had them as well - but her body froze every single time she tried to move towards him.

And that was when Kevin realised what was happening.

"God, Jess, I'm so sorry." He whispered as he jumped up. "I didn't..." He suddenly remembered why his parents had left, how he had _made_ them leave him. And now he had done exactly the same to Jessica, the only person who had ever given a single fuck about him. "I didn't mean to do that..."

He grabbed a shirt, put it on, put on some trousers - wasn't it kinda creepy that a thirteen year old girl had been watching him while he was wearing nothing but his boxers? He decided not to think about it - and started to put some clothes into a bag. He needed to get away, he needed to leave before Dorothy could find out what he could do and kicked him out.

"Kevin, what are you doing?" Jess frowned as she watched him, she was done with being scared, she simply wanted him to explain what was going on. "Are you going somewhere? You can't go anywhere! This is your home now!"

"It's never been, Jess. This was just a temporary roof over my head." Kevin said between packing the shirt that Jess had bought him that one time they had gone to the Zoo together and packing his last pair of fresh underwear. "I knew that I couldn't stay here _forever_."

That caused the young girl to tear up. "But you promised..." She whispered, so very softly. "You promised you would never leave me!"

"I promised that I would always come back to you." He stopped what he was doing and gently cupped her cheeks. "Jessica Jones. I promise you now, once again, that I'll be back once we're both ready, okay? I promise."

"Really?"

God, her voice was so small and she was so much the tiny thirteen year old he lived with. And he wished that he didn't have to go, he wished he could stay, but now that he realised what he could do, how he controlled people, he couldn't stay any longer. He couldn't risk hurting her or anyone in the house - he had mainly thought about Jess, but Trish lived here as well. And he cared too much. That was what was wrong with him. He cared.

"Really."

She nodded and grabbed his shirt before pulling him in an embrace. "I'll... I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Yes. Very soon."

 

*

 

Kevin had never meant to return. And quickly the soon turned into weeks, turned into months. He had returned to his old spot on the street, keeping an eye on Jess and Trish, just to make sure that they were alright. Any normal person would've returned as soon as they were settled with who they were, as soon as they knew what had changed in them, but not Kevin. He couldn't stand another one leaving him, especially not the little sisters he had grown so attached to.

So he was the one who left _them_. Not that it made sense or anything, but it saved him the pain of being abandoned again.

It wasn't as if he didn't think about her, she would always be his little adoptive sister, but there were too many 'couldn't's and 'wouldn't's that were holding him back. He should probably let go, he should probably go back to her and actually explain what had happened that night, but his heart wouldn't let him. His heart was too much in the grip of his fear to do something about it.

He should go back. He really should. But he wasn't going to.


	3. Fourteen/Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> I have received a couple of positive comments on this and they have warmed my heart. I was determined to try and upload every Wednesday, but that obviously hasn't worked out.
> 
> I /will/ try to upload more regularly, but I can't promise anything.
> 
> Anyway. Thanks for reading, kudo'ing and commenting!

It was so easy for Kevin to fall back in his old ways, eating out of trashcans, pick pocketing people in the hope to be able to buy decent food for that evening. He had taken _some_ things from Jessica's place, of course, so he had a warm blanket and a few sets of clothes, but it was still not much. He told himself that he was used to this, that this was normal for him, but he had to admit, that after living with Jessica for a year, he was spoiled.

He missed the tea they drank in the afternoon, he missed the deserts Trish sometimes arranged for the three of them, he missed Jessica running over to him in the morning, pulling him in a hug. And yet he wasn't going back.

It had been six months since he had left the Walkers. Six months of being lonely - he had to admit, it wasn't quite the same now that he knew what it felt like to have a family - being hungry and being cold. And he wasn't getting sick, he knew that, but then again, he had this incredibly nasty cough that simply didn't go away.

Normal people would've gone to the doctor by now, but he couldn't - he neither had the time nor the money for it - so it simply kept getting worse and worse. Sometimes he day dreamed - it made time go by faster - that he returned to the house, that Jessica and Dorothy and Trish accepted him back, that they were the ones who took him to a doctor and saved his life.

But he couldn't.

He had only controlled Jessica once, he knew that now that he had ran away from her, she'd start to forget, she'd blame her imagination for what had happened. He couldn't allow her to tell her mother what was going on, because the result would be the exact same. Him living on the street. He was simply running a few steps ahead of the unavoidable.

So the stubborn little prick stayed on the street, living day by day and hoping - desperately - that he'd wake up the next day. Because he could easily die overnight. He tried not to think about that as he went to sleep.

 

*

 

His cough didn't go away.

Even six months later, on the eve of Jessica's birthday - yes, he remembered it, was that such a surprise? - it was at the worst point it had ever gotten. He was weak, feverish, could barely move on his own and there was constantly someone with him, one of his friends who lived with him. He knew that it was only a matter of time before he'd die. And everybody was waiting impatiently.

He had told his friend - he was called Jack, if he remembered correctly, but his memory wasn't what it used to be - that no matter what, he didn't want to be brought to anywhere but his home. His own little place, surrounded by cardboard boxes and homeless guys, under a bridge, away from everybody he really cared about.

He really should have gone to the doctor.

His fever was high. Lethal levels high. He was moaning and hallucinating, calling out for Jessica, calling out for his friend. Jack did the only thing he thought he could do, the only thing that he thought was the right thing.

He was completely unaware of Jack picking him up - he was too deep in the fever hallucination - or dragging him all the way to the address that he had been mumbling in his sleep apparently. The address of the Walkers. Jack waited until he was sure that they were all inside - Kevin had told him more than enough about the two young girls and their mother who lived inside the house - and then dragged him all the way to the front steps. He positioned Kevin so that he was sitting straight against the wall before ringing the bell and running away.

Kevin was half aware that the door opened and that there was a surprised scream coming from someplace next to him. He felt another set of hands - these ones were smaller than Jack's - attempting to pick him up and drag him inside, but he was too heavy for her.

The young girl called out again - this time he realised that it was Trish who was standing over him - and a new set of footsteps approached. He opened one eye and with a feverish look he glanced up at the black haired girl in front of him. At first he didn't recognise her, she had gotten older, she had grown up, but then his feverish brain put the link between the black hair and the girl he'd been talking about for an entire year.

Jessica.

"Hi." He mumbled. "I don't feel so good."

"No shit Sherlock." She muttered before picking him up effortlessly and carrying him inside.

_Wow, she's really strong. Has she been working out?_

And after that, blackness.


	4. Fifteen/Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been too long. I know.
> 
> But there should be more chapters from now on, since I have everything planned out from now on. Well, more or less.
> 
> I will try at least.
> 
> Thanks for reading, kudo'ing and commenting!

When he finally became aware of the world again, Kevin was surrounded by both Jessica and Trish. A quick glance at the clock - it was two thirty in the afternoon - told him that they were supposed to be in school, yet here they were, looking at him with their eyes filled with worry.  He quickly pushed himself back up, groaning softly, before letting himself fall down onto his bed - oh, no, he was on the couch, not a bed - again because the dizziness became too much.

"Kevin Thompson." Jessica sounded annoyed with him. Really annoyed. "You said that you would come _back._ "

She was still the little girl he had left - and for some strange reason, he was glad about that - and that made him smile. "I did come back. I'm here now, aren't I?

"Goddamnit, Kevin!" Her reaction was so much stronger than he had expected - she punched the couch hard enough to leave a dent. "I thought you'd come back in like a _week!_ You weren't planning to come back, were you?"

He was left wide eyed, staring at the now broken couch. He was too shocked to actually give her an answer, but Trish jumped in.  She placed a hand on Jessica's shoulder and pulled her back, rubbing it soothingly.

"I'm pretty sure that Kevin was planning to come back eventually, Jess." She said softly. "But he's back, right? He said it himself, that is what matters."

The black haired girl looked up at the blonde with wide open eyes. She wanted to admit that the other was right, but at the same time, she didn't at all. After all, she had _missed_ Kevin. She had missed the man who always seemed to be cheerful and who could always cheer her up. She had missed that over the last year.

"Look, Jess... I'm sorry." Kevin whispered softly - he refused to make eye contact, since he was still scared of her power display. "I was trying to protect you. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"You can't hurt me, Kevin." She snapped. "Have you looked at me?"

Oh yes, he had, and he rather liked what he saw. But he'd never act on that, since he was five years older than her and she was only fifteen. It wasn't happening. "When I look at you, I see that twelve year old girl who took me in to spite her mother. Besides, I can hurt you in ways you can't even imagine."

She huffed in disbelief - almost as if she knew something that Kevin didn't - while shaking her head. "That's the point, Kevin, you can't hurt me."

And after those words, she ran away.

 

*

 

Kevin stayed there for a while - Dorothy insisted on it, she wasn't going to send a sick boy back to the streets - until he got a bit better again. He spent most of his time on the sofa - watching TV or playing games on the console - while Dorothy made sure that someone fed him every once in a while. And he grew stronger again, day by day, week by week, month by month.

Once he was back on his feet, Dorothy started to use him as someone to look after the kids while she did absolutely bugger all. After all, Trish and Jess liked him and he was good with them. Well... Trish liked him. Jess had cooled down considerably since she had carried him into the house on her birthday. He had honestly no idea what had happened - was he really to blame? He had merely wanted to protect her from his powers - that had caused her to distance herself from him. But he had a suspicion.

She probably remembered what had happened on the evening he left, that brief moment where he had shown the powers he had inside him. She must remember and now run from him because of that. (If he was absolutely honest with himself, he'd have done the same in her situation.)

And no matter how much Trish reassured him that it had nothing to do with him, he kept blaming himself for all of this. It didn't help that he brought her to school and picked her up every day - Jess actually refused to talk to him _at all_ when they were returning home - so that he was forced to face his mistakes.

Every day, he considered telling her, every _single_ day, but every time he got her alone, she'd throw him that nasty look that would cause him to clamp up and not say a single thing. At this rate, he was never going to tell her.


	5. Sixteen/Twenty-One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long hiatus. I do plan on finishing this story one day, but I'm afraid you'll have to be very patient.
> 
> Any way, for those who stuck with me, thank you, for those who are new, welcome and for all of you; thank you for reading, kudo'ing and commenting.

So things went on. Kevin felt horrible because he couldn't be honest with the one person he really liked and Jessica... Well, Jessica was being Jessica. A year passed and soon enough, it was time for Jessica's birthday once again - Kevin refused to tell her his birthday, so every time when the eighteenth of April rolled around, he made sure that he was 'out' for the day. Jessica had actually warmed up to him - a tiny bit - in the run-up to her sweet sixteen - and the party accompanied with it. At least she talked to him again, which was more than enough for Kevin.

Of course it was mostly Trish and Kevin who organised Jessica's Sweet Sixteen party because one: it was meant to be a surprise and two: Dorothy couldn't be bothered. She already paid for the entire thing, so organising was above her, apparently. Kevin didn't judge her, there was a lot of work and stress that came along with it.

When the party finally rolled around, Kevin was too busy working the room, inviting in her friends, making sure everyone had drinks and that there were snacks to actually pay any attention to Jessica herself - who would blame him? He had told Trish to enjoy the party, that he'd be the responsible adult in this situation, but now he was regretting it.

He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol and was surrounded by all these teenagers - some of which Jessica barely knew - who were so incredibly drunk. So he spent his time at the bar, pouring drinks, making sure nobody drank _too much_ because they didn't need a disaster - although Jessica would probably love that.

It was about fifteen minutes past midnight when Jessica waltzed over to him, a wide grin on her face. And of course, Kevin was worried. Immediately.

" _Kevin_!" Jessica's voice wasn't much more than a slur when she jumped over the bar - he should've realised that something was up when she did that so effortlessly - and wrapped her arms around his waist just that little bit too tight.

He wormed his arms between hers in an attempt to get himself some more breathing space, but she wouldn't move. "Jessica-" He managed eventually. "Please- loosen up a bit."

"Oh sorry!" After the mumbled apology, the sixteen year old immediately let go of him, only to stare at her feet in embarrassment. "Didn't mean to-" She shrugged something away, which Kevin wasn't going to forget anytime soon. "I just- I wanted to tell you what an _awesome party_ this is. My friends are gonna talk about this for the rest of the year!"

Kevin took a deep breath as soon as she had let go of him and put a bit of space between the two of them. No need to give her a second chance to almost crush him, right? "Well, Trish helped a lot."

"I talked t'her." Jessica shook her head. "She told me that _you_ did most of th'work."

That wasn't true. Trish had in fact done a lot of work as well, but it was true that he was doing everything _now_ , but that was only because he had almost ordered her to go and party. "Well... I guess." Kevin awkwardly ran a hand through his hair and tried not to look in Jess' eyes.

He thought that he was over this, that he had told himself _not_ to feel like this, like he actually had a chance with Jessica. Because he didn't. She was _sixteen_ , he was twenty-one. They would be together when hell froze over, which wasn't very likely to happen. But Jessica didn't seem to think like that, because she cupped his cheeks and forced him to look up at her again.

"I just came 'ere t'say... Thank you, Kevin." With a shy smile, she moved closer to the man and pulled him in for a kiss.

First thing Kevin did was kiss her back - of course. He even went as far as wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her a bit closer to her. But then the rational part of his brain kicked in - _She's_ sixteen _you idiot! And she's_ drunk _! You can't let this get out of hand! At all!_ \- and he pulled away from her again, which only earned him a very disappointed pout from Jessica.

"That's not how you- I mean... You're welcome, Jessica." Before she could say anything else, he turned around and _ran away_ once again.

 

 

*

 

_You can't do this, Kevin. You can't use Jessica like this. You need to make her forget all of this ever happened._

Kevin didn't want to listen to that voice at the back of his mind, but he knew that it was right. No matter how hard it was for him - he had finally earned back her trust - he couldn't allow her to actually remember it. Besides, she'd blame it on the alcohol anyway, she had had more than enough. It was so easy for him to fix this and yet he was hesitant to do so. Because this was what he wanted - and he had wanted it for _quite a while._ Which made it very hard not to listen to that second voice, the voice that was telling him to just go for it and see how this would all work out.

Thing was: he couldn't lose Jessica. She had been his friend for four years now and she had proven herself to be more stubborn than he could be at some moments. Even after his run from her, even after that brief moment that he was in control - that was a completely different thing that he still needed to figure out - she had still come back for him. It had taken time, granted, but he hadn't expected her to forgive him straight away. In fact, this was a lot sooner than he had expected - but then again, Jess was _drunk._

His thoughts were interrupted by Trish who walked into the room where he had hidden himself - of _course_ he hadn't gone to the bathroom, why would he go to such a cliché place? - and knocked on the door of the stall he had locked himself in.

"Kevin, I know you're in there. And I saw what happened." She didn't sound as drunk as her adoptive sister was, but that either meant that she could handle alcohol better or that she just had had less to drink. Probably the last one.

"I'm not here." He mumbled, giving away that he _was_ in fact there. "Go away, Trish, I don't want to talk about it."

"Do you know how long she has been talking about you when you were gone?" This wasn't a subject that was breached easily. Kevin always got uncomfortable whenever it came up and immediately tried to change the subject.

"Of course not." He said, trying not to snap. "I wasn't _there_ , now was I?" And that was where the trying part failed.

"Every single day. Mom - she had to _forbid_ her to talk about you at the dinner table. And even then she still wondered when you were going to come back. She was convinced that every time a letter arrived without an address, it was from you and even when it was for Mom, she insisted on opening it just to make sure. Someone - probably a fan of mine wanting to get in my good graces - left a present on our doorstep on her fourteenth birthday and she was sure that you had left it there. Kevin, trust me when I tell you that she's really into you. But she just doesn't realise it yet."

"It _was_ me." He mumbled before starting to list the reasons why they could never happen. "But that doesn't mean that this is a good idea, Trish. First of all, there's the age difference. She'll... She'll just get tired of me after a while. Besides, what you saw, that was just a drunk mistake, nothing more. She probably just likes me as a friend, nothing more." He could _hear_ Trish open her mouth to protest and tell him how wrong he was, but he stopped her before she could even begin. "Please don't even _think_ about trying to change my mind. I've had plenty of time to think about this and I am absolutely sure about this. I can't- I will not act on this one kiss."

_Not until I have proof that there's actually something serious there_.


End file.
